The Tool Box: Ben Greenman’s Watch

Earlier today, we talked with our colleague Ben Greenman about his new book, “Correspondences.” Here he offers some insight into his writing process:

I take lots of notes on lots of different kinds of things. I write on the blank pages in the backs of books—galleys mostly. I walk around and talk into little digital recorders. I send myself e-mails. I recently figured out how to use my iPod as a note-taking device. The first half-hour or so of any session I spend just extracting and sorting those notes. And I keep track of the time on an insane Japanese watch I bought online. It’s called a Pimp watch, and it reminds me both that time flies and that the flight of time is hilarious.

Then I usually do one outline in longhand on white typing paper. Sometimes those outlines end up being elaborate doodles. Sometimes they’re very helpful. Then I bang out a draft on my computer, and then I just do the normal thing: revise, procrastinate, revise, procrastinate, believe I’m done, revise, revise, procrastinate.